Submission deadline - Friday, December 30th, 2011 11:59 PM ESTThere will be NO EXTENSION beyond this date!All entries MUST be submitted no later then this.Any entry arriving later will not be considered, so make sure to get them in ASAP!!!** If you know your entry will be a day or two late, you must contact me BEFORE the deadline passes. **

Contact the AMV Coordinator: deuceloosely4711@gmail.com for more information. Yes, this is also where to send your entries. Please use Megaupload or any reputable upload site and send the download link to this email address.

AMV Categories

There will be six categories this year.DramaRomanceActionComedyUpBeat / DanceWhat the...I Don't Even Know!(This is something I'm sure you all have been wanting for some time. It's a category for those videos that don't really fit in anywhere else. They can be ambiguous in the way they walk the line between the standard categories. They can also be SO FAR OUT THERE that "WTF?" comes to mind. However you interpret this category, we're looking to make it as interesting and memorable as possible. See "Kagami Eated Your Soul" by ZephyrStar for an example.)

The audience will vote for the top videos in each category as well as Best in Show.Other special awards include:Judge's Choice Award (our judging panel's award for best overall video)Coordinator's ChoiceCon Chair's Award

Once the deadline passes and we have all our entries, the AMV staff will screen them all to determine the field of finalists.

The screening will utilize a fairly strict scoring system.Your entry must pass a quality check (sound clarity and video quality, mainly) and then it will be judged on several technical factors, although entertainment value is extremely important. No one on the screening panel will be shown or told the name / identity of any of the submissions' editors. Once all the numbers are in, the math will be done and the highest-scoring entries will pass on to the finals (posted within a week of the convention).

Submission Form

You must include a separate form for each AMV that you submit.It must accompany the download link in the email you send.The form should be nothing more then a normal .txt file that contains the following information:

- Full legal name- Nickname / Studio name (if applicable)- Mailing address- Telephone number (including area code)- Email address- Title of AMV- Song title(s) and artist(s) - Name of source video footage - CategoryALSO please attach the following to the info (for "legal reasons")..."By submitting a video to the Katsucon 18 AMV Contest [or AMV NSFW Contest], I am representing that this video does not violate anyone's rights and that I own all copyrights in this video or have authorization to upload it."

Email me if there are any questions or concerns about this. I know it's an anomalous thing but I'm being told by those further up the chain this needs to be done.No one likes having to deal with this stuff but you know...

You must include ALL of that information before your video will be considered for the contest. If you are unsure about any of the information please look it up, as it is all crucial information.Please name your files in this format:video: “category - your name – video title.avi”info: “category - your name – video title.txt”

0) This should go without saying, but plagiarism will NOT be tolerated! Any attempt to submit the work belonging to anyone other than yourself will result in you being BLACKLISTED from the Katsucon AMV contest now and in the future.

1) All entries *MUST* conform to the formats listed above.

2) NO BUMPERS or CREDITS will be permitted! We will provide title screens to introduce each entry for the finals.

3) A maximum of three submissions per person, one per category, is allowed.

4) Entries must be at least 1 minute in length and not to exceed 5:30 minutes running time. They must contain at least 75% Japanese animation. Live action is allowed as long as your video remains mostly anime / video game. If you do use video game sources, make sure they are Japanese-produced.

5a) Submissions should be no more than 6 months old or close to it.5b) Anti-trolling rules are in effect. Do not enter a video if it has won three major awards (best of category and best in show). If you enter several contests and your video wins its third award after the Katsucon submission deadline has passed, it will NOT count against you.

6) ** IMPORTANT! ** This contest will be viewed by a general audience (all-ages) so try and maintain a PG-rating. Absolutely NO sexual content, excessive violence, or profanity will be permitted. Anything that is questionable will be shown to both the judging panel and con chair for further review. The bottom line: con chair has the FINAL WORD!

7) Your video will be returned to you for alteration or disqualified if there are any logos, watermarks, or fan-produced subtitles - CHECK YOUR WORK before submitting! You ARE allowed to produce your own subtitles.

8) All entries must be accompanied by a completely filled-out submission form. (see above) We can't stress this enough!

9) All submitted materials become the property of Katsucon, and are non-returnable.

10) Submissions with significant audio or visual degradation will not be accepted. (PROTIP: do not make AMVs with downloaded video or poor-sounding audio.)

11) Prizes will be presented during a formal award show yet to be scheduled (although I'm pushing for Saturday night). If the contestant is not attending the convention or must leave before the award show, their awards will be mailed out after the convention courtesy of Katsucon. Please allow 4-6 weeks maximum for delivery.

12) DVD copies of the contest will not be available due to legal concerns.

14) We reserve the right to reject any video for any reason. Rules are subject to change. If any major changes are necessary to make your entry suitable for screening, we will contact you as soon as possible.

15) All members of the Katsucon AMV Staff and judging panel are prohibited from entering this contest. They may still submit their videos to be shown during the non-competitive exhibition.

...but there IS music in it.Go ahead and submit it.The thing about AMVs is there needs to be music in it.The spoken words may not be lyrical but they are critical to the video.We just can't have a video with no music; otherwise it's a parody.Anyway, I might have to run the Lost Episode past out con chair.I can't promise anything but he might be more liberal than the one from AMA.If he decides it's still "too hot for general audiences," you still have the NSFW contest (which my Lieutenant is running and I'll pass it directly to her).Either way, fear not.We'll figure it out...

A lot of cons allow skit type (or some even amv hell type) ones in their comedy and a lot don't, so I tend to ask unless it's specified. I'll just have to think up something new for my other entry now.

moonbunnychan wrote:A lot of cons allow skit type (or some even amv hell type) ones in their comedy and a lot don't...

The bans started happening because most (not all) take little effort to make and easily beat videos that took much more effort to think up a plan for the whole song. Skit/Hell style videos were decreasing the interest in making full song comedy AMVs because they couldn't complete...I enjoy a skit/hell based videos, but I personally feel it's a new genre and deserves it's own category. I would love to see more conventions have that kind of category, because there are a lot of those made and they are enjoyable to watch.

I know what you mean though. I get down spirited when a video (even if it isn't mine) that I know took a ton of effort looses to something that's basically "poplular anime right now A + popular song right now B + an internet meme or two."

And that legal disclaimer is kind of funny. I realize it's so you guys don't get sued or something but I can't imagine anybody actually being able to say that they have the copyright to their anime and music.

moonbunnychan wrote:And that legal disclaimer is kind of funny. I realize it's so you guys don't get sued or something but I can't imagine anybody actually being able to say that they have the copyright to their anime and music.

I know.I made the best and most detailed argument I could but they're scared about losing the AMV contest altogether over some loose cannon or industry spy making things difficult on the con.In the end, I didn't think including a disclaimer with the info sheet was such a big deal.They just wanna be sure you understand they don't wanna be sued and that this is mostly a symbolic gesture of good faith.Sure, if AMV was anyone's focus, this site would have been raided and shut down a long time ago.Anyway, just remember to paste it to your info sheets.

moonbunnychan wrote:I know what you mean though. I get down spirited when a video (even if it isn't mine) that I know took a ton of effort looses to something that's basically "poplular anime right now A + popular song right now B + an internet meme or two."

My AMVs on youtube normally only get a few hundred views, and I spend several weeks on them. (spare time)

I made a simple vid about a NASA photo that had been photoshopped - and it has over 44,000 views. Took me 15 minutes.

Greetings. I am quite new to AMV making but I hope to enter the contest this time. After looking at Katsucon 17's results, I actually got quite discouraged that each one I make probably won't even make it in, but i'll still try my best. =.=